OUR CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL'-mpF STRAWBERRY CULTURE 



WHERE THE MEMBERS OF THE 

 SCHOOL AND THE INSTRUCTOR 

 IN CULTURAL METHODS MEET 



PRACTICAL LESSONS TAUGHT 

 PERTAINING TO THE SCIENCE 

 OF STRAWBERRY PRODUCTION 



THE instructor wishes to express his 

 appreciation of the way in which 

 the members are sending in their 

 questions to be answered here. 

 So many have adopted the plan of putting 

 their questions upon a separate sheet, 

 properly paragraphed and numbered, that 

 it maices it not only much easier for him, 

 but insures the questioner's getting the 

 desired information. It is a great pleas- 

 ure to know that this department is prov- 

 ing so great a help to its members. 



Sometimes we get a letter apologizing 

 for the number of questions asked. This 

 leads me to believe that some who may 

 feel timid about asking questions, refrain 

 from doing so altogether, and I do not 

 wish that a single member should feel 

 that way, but be perfectly free to ask all 

 the questions needful. This department 

 belongs to you, and every other subscriber 

 of The Strawberry. So far it has been no 

 trouble to answer the questions asked. 

 The hardest thing to do is to advise those 

 who are investing their last dollar to get 

 into the strawberry business. While I 

 know that strawberry growing is a big- 

 paying business when properly conducted, 

 none may tell whether he is to succeed 

 until he has first made a try of it. The 

 degree of enthusiasm he puts into the 

 work really counts for more than the 

 money he invests, and when one's letter 

 indicates intelligent enthusiasm we do not 

 hesitate to advise him to go into the 

 work. 



Below we publish a letter received a 

 few days ago from two New Jersey girls 

 who are just starting into the work, to- 

 gether with our reply. These girls have 

 an abundance of enthusiasm and they are 

 going to win because they have made up 

 their minds that they will win and are 

 ready to work for success. Here is their 

 letter: 



We received your long and instructive letter 

 and wish to thank you sincerely for your helpful 

 answers to our myriad questions. We are two 

 girls and, in addition to traveling back and forth 

 to New York to business every day, care for 

 live hundred pigeons, fifty chickens, a cow and 

 a horse. We also are raising collie dogs so, as 

 you can imagine, our time is pretty well occu- 

 pied. We arise at 4:30 every morning and do 

 a day's work, I might say, before leaving for 

 business at 7 o'clock. We have to drive two 

 and one-half miles to the station. Finding it 

 very difficult to secure help, we are obliged to 

 put up our own buildings, and have just com- 

 pleted a twenty-two foot squab house, of which 

 we are very proud. You say you think we 

 could manage four acres of strawberries working 

 morning and evening and keeping one boy at it 

 all day. Well, we are going to try it anyway 



and if work can bring it we shall succeed — with 

 your help! 



Not knowing just how the soil has been used 

 in past years, and fearing that it may not be in 

 good condition for berries, don't you think it 

 might be wise to plant only two acres this spring 

 to strawberries.' 



We cannot afford the great quantity of man- 

 ure necessary to fertilize. Could you suggest 

 any particular company selling commercial fer- 

 tilizer in our vicinity upon whow we could rely? 

 About how much would we require to the acre? 



Having only two weeks' vacation and desiring 

 to spread it as much as possible through the 

 summer, can you tell us how many days it would 

 take two of us with the help of a boy to plant 

 two acres? Also will you tell us just when you 

 think it would be best for us to begin to plant 

 and exactly when to order the plants, as we 

 must prepare for that. You can imagine that a 

 very little money rolls out very quickly when a 

 lot of ever-hungry animals are clamoring for 

 three meals a day. 



We want to do it as economically as possible, 

 and yet we want to do it right, and shall appre- 

 ciate it very greiitly if you can offer any sugges- 

 tions. We hope in time to have our whole 

 little twelve-acre farm in strawberries. We are 

 hoping that having our heart in the work will 

 mean half the battle. Even if we did not love 

 it already, your splendid paper would soon make 

 us do so. 



In reply to this we wrote: 



I have read your letter over very care- 

 fully and with a great deal of interest. I 

 note that you say you are two girls, 

 arising at 4:30 in the morning attending to 

 your squabs, chickens and cow, and then 

 driving two and a half miles to the station 

 and then riding to New York city for 

 your day's work. 



Inasmuch as you have so much other 

 work to do, I would suggest that you do 

 not set more than one acre to strawberries, 

 and I think it would be a good plan for 

 you to use a small part of this acre for 

 a propagating bed, so that you can grow 

 your own plants; then in the spring of 1908 

 you would have almost one acre of plants 

 for fruiting and an abundance of good 

 strong plants to set the one or two acres 

 more. By starting on a small scale, it 

 will give you an opportunity to become 

 acquainted with the work, then the acreage 

 may be increased as your experience and 

 capital would justify. 



As to the fertilizer, I would recommend 

 to you the Mapes Formula & Peruvian 

 Guano Co., 143 Liberty street, N. Y. 

 We have no interest whatever in this firm, 

 but we know they manufacture high-grade 

 fertilizers. The one they call their Fruit 

 and Vine manure is the one you should 

 buy. Of course, you can use the fertilizer 

 from your chicken pens and cow stable, 



Pige 77 



which will help very much in bringing up 

 your soil. 



The best time to set strawberry plants 

 is just as early in the spring as your soil 

 will do to work in. In your locality this 

 would be about the 20th of April. 



It requires about 7000 plants to set one 

 acre, and I would judge that the three of 

 you could set two acres in two and one- 

 half to three days. We always figure that 

 one man will set 2500 to 3000 plants per 

 day, and from the tone of your letter I 

 believe that either of you girls will set 

 jiist about as many plants as a man, and 

 the number of plants the boy can set will 

 depend largely upon how steadily he sticks 

 to the work. 



The very fact that you are figuring on 

 doing the work as economically as possible 

 is evidence that you are sure to win, and 

 I hope that everything will come your 

 way, and that in a few years you will have 

 your entire twelve acres producing a prof- 

 itable crop of fruit. 



Your order for plants should be sent in 

 at once. 



I believe that if you will carry out 

 these suggestions, you will find them 

 practical. We admire girls of your type. 

 You are certainly deserving of great suc- 

 cess, and I hope you will have it, and 

 assure you that I will do anything in my 

 power to assist you. 



Subscriber. Can Bordeaux mixture and the 

 Paris green be used in fruiting time without 

 injuring" the fruit? 



2. Does the plant bear fruit the first year it 

 is set out? 



No; never apply any poisonous spray 

 to your plants in fruiting time. 



2. Plants would produce fruit the 

 same year they are set out, but to allow 

 them to do so would greatly weaken them 

 and perhaps kill them entirely. Always 

 pick the bloom off the first year the plants 

 are set. 



Mrs, I. W. H., Pontiac, III. Last year 1 no- 

 ticed a small green insect having the appear- 

 ance of a rose slug on the under side of the 

 leaves of my plants. It was of a lighter green 

 than the rose slug and about a half-inch long. 

 It eats all of the tissue of the leaves, leaving 

 only the veins. What is it and how shall I 

 proceed to rid my plants of it? 



The insect you describe is the straw- 

 berry slug. A four-winged fly appears 

 in the spring and deposits its eggs within 

 the tissues of the leaf or stem. In a short 



